RONALD
E. GUERNON was a career fire fighter with the Camden Fire
Department. After serving in the United States marine Coprps he was appointed to the Fire Department in March of 1964. After being promoted to Captain, he served as the Chief
Training Officer on 1977. By December of 1983 he had been promoted to
Battalion Chief, in which capacity he was working out of the firehouse
at 619 Kaighn Avenue on Christmas Day. He retired from the
department on April 1, 1990.

Ron
Guernon moved to Florida after his days with the Camden Fire Department.
An avid bowler, he carried an average well into the 200s and is on
record of bowling at least one 688 series.

Diagnosed with service connected colon and kidney cancer, he passed away
on May 20, 2012. Ron had a very difficult time dealing with the Veterans
Administration, and did not take their indifference laying down.

Education
is becoming a major factor in all aspects of fire inspection and fire
suppresion. The importance of education is so vital that even colleges
and universities now offer Fire Science Curriculums. The growth of our
nation's population and economy demands an increasing emphasis on
protective services. The Fire Science Technology and Protection
Curriculum provides professional training and education for firefighting
personnel.

Some
of the courses being offered this semester at Camden County College are,
Hydraulic Technology, Introduction to Fire Technology, and Building
Codes and Standards.

The
Fire Academy has just taken delivery of a new set of 35 mm. slides on
"The Firefighter and Plastics In a Changing Environment." This
presentation will be conducted at each station in the very near future.

In the past three months the
Fire Training Academy has graduated three new probationary firefighters.
At this time we would like to congratulate them and wish them a fine and
fulfilling career in the Camden Fire Department. A PROFESSIONAL
FIREFIGHTER IS A WELL TRAINED FIREFIGHTER.

The
last major incident of the year 1983 occurred on Christmas morning, December
25th. Christmas 1983 dawned on a clear, sunny day with frigid
temperatures near the five degree mark. As families everywhere prepared
to celebrate the solemn holiday, the men in the firehouses around the
City had settled into what everyone expected to be an uneventful tour of
duty. Holiday routine as It is traditionally known in the Camden Fire
Department, are quiet times in the firehouse. Particularly on special
days like Christmas when the environment of the fire station with its
concrete floors and the ever present smell of diesel fuel, seem to
assume a peaceful, even homey atmosphere. The fire fighters are often
engaged in personal activities - some quietly reading or watching a
holiday program on television, while still others are busy preparing the
noon meal for their brothers.

A
few minutes after 10 A.M., the quiet tranquility of the firehouse was
shattered by the shrill sound of the alarm tones over the department
radio, followed by the blaring voice of the fire dispatcher announcing a
structural fire at Fourth Street and Lansdowne A venue, South Camden.
Engine Company 8 and Ladder Company 2 assigned first due, left the warm
confines of their ancient firehouse and entered the biting cold of
Kaighns Avenue heading west toward Broadway. From several blocks away,
they could see the gray and yellow streams of smoke blowing over the
rooftops. As Engine Company 8 entered the block, heavy menacing smoke
billowed from the second floor of a two-story dwelling attached in the
middle of a row of eight buildings. In the bone chilling cold of the
street whipped by ferocious winds, stood a family of occupants huddled
together, some wrapped in blankets, as they watched their Christmas
turned into ashes.

The
absence of integral party walls allowed the fire to rapidly extend to
adjoining buildings. Battalion Chief Ronald Guernon pulled a second
alarm on arrival as hose lines were aggressively advanced to the second
floors of three buildings. Ladder companies armed with roof saws
performed rapid ventilation to stem the spread of fire. As heavy fire
conditions took possession of the top floors and cockloft of at least
three buildings, third and fourth alarms were transmitted. Fire fighters
were punished by the extreme cold and constant battering of gale force
winds as heavy icing made footing treacherous. Following a two hour
battle, the flames were finally subdued but not before at least four
families were made homeless.

Shivering
on the sidewalk, the occupants stared in disbelief at the ruins of all
their worldly possessions and of what their holiday might have been.
Near the front windows of one building a Christmas tree could be seen,
still standing in the corner of a room adorned by once colorful
decorations, now tarnished an ugly brown and coated in real icicles
where tinsel had hung. Ashes and debris now lay where gift wrapped
presents had been. As the homeless children wept openly in the street,
fire fighters went silently about their work knowing that the real gift
that Christmas, had been no loss of life or injuries to the occupants.
That the families would live on to enjoy other Christmas Days together.

NEW
YORK TIMES - MARCH 18, 1984

Three
Children Dead After Fire in Camden

CAMDEN,
N.J., March 18 (AP) - A 4-year-old girl died today of burns suffered in a
fire Saturday night that killed two of her brothers and injured her mother
and an infant brother, officials said today.

Firefighters
responding to the alarm at 10:50 P.M. found the children's mother, Blair
Cherry, with her 9-month-old son, Lorimar, outside her two-story brick
home at 1275 Mechanic
Street as flames shot from every window, the officials said.

Inside,
Battalion Chief Ronald Guernon said, the firefighters found the bodies of
Zirer Cherry, 5, and his brother, Lawrence, 2,

The
fourth child, Lyasia, 4, was found by a firefighter but died today at St.
Agnes Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Hearing
on 04/23/2012: Discovering a More Efficient Process:
Improving
Timeliness and Adequacy of VA Compensation and Pension Examinations

Good
afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to speak on this important
subject. My name is Walter Tafe and I am the Director of
Burlington County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Our office serves a community of over 35,000 veterans. With our
close proximity to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
approximately 20 percent of our clients are recent returnees
from the Global War on Terrorism.

I
am here today to share my observations regarding the Veteran
Affairs (VA) requirements for Compensation and Pension (C&P)
examinations. I don’t come here today to throw stones at the
VA. I understand the backlog issues and hope to make meaningful
testimony that can help all involved gain a better prospective
of the veteran’s point of view. Although I’m sure this
program was intended to speed the process by providing
verification of a veteran’s condition, in many cases it has
the opposite effect. The reality is that veterans face a wait of
several months before seeing a doctor, a visit that’s often no
more than a five to 10 minute conversation with a doctor who
takes just a cursory look at the medical records—and that’s
assuming the regional office has sent the records at all.
Veterans leave this examination extremely frustrated; many tell
me they feel they’ve wasted several months waiting for an
appointment that wasn’t even a real medical exam.

I
would like to discuss several recommendations that, I believe,
could have a dramatic impact on the process, reducing both the
wait time for C&P examinations and the backlog that is
presently crippling the claims process. My recommendations are
based on my conclusion that many—at least 50 percent—of the
C&P examinations conducted by the VA are unnecessary.

Many
of my clients are receiving their health care exclusively from
the Veterans Administration health care system. This means that
the VA already has their complete medical history in its
possession. When these veterans file a new claim or a claim for
increase, they must first receive a C&P exam to verify the
condition. The veteran waits several months to receive a C&P
examination so a VA doctor can verify a condition that was
already diagnosed by another VA doctor. This makes absolutely no
sense. It seems like the VA does not trust its own doctors
to make a competent assessment and recommendation. Often, the
veterans interpret this as a means of delaying the process; as a
result, it builds great animosity between veterans the very
department that is supposed to protect them.

As
I initially stated, approximately 20 percent of my current
clients are only just returning to civilian life after serving
on active duty. They are National Guard and Reserve personnel
being released after activation, or active duty military members
separating or retiring. In these cases the entire military
service medical records are available to the VA. These members
normally file a claim within the first three months of
separation. Many are combat wounded, or have conditions
diagnosed during active duty and verified during separation
physical examinations. Even with a definitive medical exam at
the close of their service, they must wait months to receive a
C&P exam appointment—and the only point is to verify a
medical condition that’s already a matter of record. These
examinations could be completely eliminated if the VA and DoD
would simply communicate with each other and share information.
I recommend that a military member’s separation examination
should consist of the same verification procedure used by the
VA, thereby reducing the redundancy and expediting the claim.

Another
concern I share with others in my field is the requirement of a
full verification process forevery condition when a veteran
is cared for by a private physician. I understand that in some
cases verification by the VA of a condition is needed and fully
justified. However, in documented cases of stage four cancers,
severe diabetes with insulin dependence, coronary artery disease
or similar terminal conditions a C&P exam seems unnecessary.
Add the additional step of filing a claim and submitting a VA
Form allowing his or her doctor to release all records to the
VA, and the resulting delay can begin to seem cruel.

A
case in example: Former Marine Ronald Guernon. He is
presently temporarily rated at 100 percent for service-connected
colon and kidney cancer. Over a year ago his condition worsened
and his prognosis was determined to be terminal. At that time I
filed a request to upgrade his condition to permanent and total.
I also requested Aid and Attendance. He now resides in Spring
Hill Florida where his wife, a registered nurse provides care.
He also receives hospice care. His life expectancy is listed as
month-to-month. Despite the ongoing documentation of Mr.
Guernon’s deteriorating condition and the fact that all
medical records have been given to the VA, the Tampa Regional
Office requested he come for a C&P examination to determine
whether his condition has worsened. This veteran is, literally,
unable to travel to Tampa due to his condition. This proud
Marine is absolutely convinced the VA is “just waiting for me
to die so they don’t have to bother.” While I’m sure this
is not the case, Mr. Guernon is the perfect example of the
crippling bureaucracy that is so significantly complicating the
VA claims process.

The
VA is making some strides and I applaud the new “Disability
Benefits Questionnaires” forms that have been provided for
veterans to bring to their health care providers. These
questionnaires were developed so a veteran can give it to his or
her doctor to completeproviding
all the medical information required to make a rating decision
on certain conditions. These questionnaires have been developed
for almost all conditions a veteran can receive compensation
for. If used correctly, they should negate the C&P process
in most cases.

In
closing I would like to say it is my strong belief that the
present C&P exam process is severely hindering, rather than
helping, the VA claim process. In most cases the examinations
are not thorough and leave veterans questioning why they waited
several months for a five-minute exam. The perception that
C&P exams are a method of delaying and denying claims is
rampant in the veteran’s community; and it’s all the more
potent when veterans like Mr. Guernon share their stories. It is
my hope that these hearings will result in a thorough
self-examination by VA personnel to evaluate the relevance of
this requirement and eliminate unnecessary examinations. Thank
you for your time and consideration of my testimony.